*Bad quarter of an hour. Otherwise, a brief but unpleasant experience
Blogger, from the top of a high place, proclaims:
"In July, the new Blogger interface will become the default for all users. The legacy interface will still be available as an option."
Ah, lovely business-speak. "Legacy interface" evokes a hidden image: "A comforter (in the UK we'd say: dummy) for those who have become toothless and forgetful." Oldsters, in fact.
For half a day I thought the guillotine had already dropped. I'd been fiddling to make my Fire 7 tablet compatible with my mini-cyberworld and suddenly found myself locked out of Tone Deaf. Seeing it only as readers see it; with no access to the levers that allow me to change it. I googled help and the answers referred to an unfamiliar entity which I now assume to be New Blogger.
I tried and I sweated. Tone Deaf (via its predecessor, Works Well) started in 2008 and consists of about 2000 posts documenting some 14.2% of my sentient life. Must I leave all that behind? Nothing worked. The only option was the recurrent command: Create blog. But I had a blog. Or did. A poor thing but mine own.
Wearily, sadness mixed with rage, I laboured to create “Tone Deaf renewed”. All those new twists and turns to be learned. Much of my history to be unlearned. The broken-backed and very incomplete result looked amateurish in extreme. I believe one of the justifications is New Blogger may help me earn money; I don’t need money, only a literary pool to splash in.
At 3 am yesterday an idea about passwords flitted through my mind. But I didn't want to disturb VR. At 6.30 am I applied it, simplicity itself. Tone Deaf, with its lonely oldsters looking out to sea, was restored.
But for how long?
I have had a look at the new interface and I don't like it and intend to stay with the current one as long as possible. If I want to get on the blog from my iPhone, or Blogger Dashboard I get straight in, but from my iPad I have to sign in with my email address and Google password. I have also been exploring the possibility of creating a total backup of my blog. This is possible if you Google and it appears to be fairly easy. This copied from my search:
ReplyDelete"When you back up your blog, you get an .xml file of the posts and comments:
In the top left, click the Down arrow Down Arrow.
Click the blog to back up.
In the left menu, click Settings and then Other.
In the "Import & back up" section, click Back up Content and then Save to your computer."
That sounds pretty easy except I'm not sure where the backup will appear on your desktop computer or what is an xmi file. I fear old age has me fearful of embarking on this experiment - I pessimistically see the possibility of it taking more than a day out of my life.. Perhaps Ian could have a look? I would be very interested to learn more. The thought of loosing the whole lot is worrying to say the least.
They haven't forced me to switch yet and I haven't tried it. We don't like change, do we?
ReplyDeleteWhat a nightmare these computer related disasters can be. I'm trying to switch over, but hate it (of course). We'll adjust after great effort, I'm almost sure of it.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh/Tom/Colette: There were two phases to this crisis. When it seemed as if I would not be able to retrieve Tone Deaf I felt I had to learn New Blogger (and quickly) if I wanted to keep on blogging. That meant working to an imminent deadline - not a pleasing option when there's a whole new bucketful of jargon to learn.
ReplyDeleteNow Tone Deaf is again operative I can afford to take my time and it's more like a puzzle than an ordeal. I can develop New Blogger in parallel and simply not expose it to public scrutiny until I'm ready to do so. I've already decided to change my original template, for one thing.
But I will pursue New Blogger. I don't trust that contemptuous phrase "legacy interface" and I suspect support for it will wither on the vine. Also there will probably be elements in New Blogger that can be ignored, notably these suggestions about making money. They existed in Old Blogger and were easily ignored.
I like the idea of making money from the drivel I write, but I think I need about 20,000 more followers to cover the weekly shop.
DeleteAll: Here's how it looks so far -
ReplyDeletehttps://ldptonedeaf2.blogspot.com/2020/06/without-so-much-as-by-you-leave-blogger.html
Quite a bit more to come
The link works. I tested comments - fewer options for commenter ID - had to do it through Google. No more "anonymous", nor more "name/url"
DeleteI'm so worried about the new blogger. Ugh. I'm not one for changes. I like how you calculated how much of your life you've been blogging. Of course it made me want to do that. Fifteen years of 68 on earth... 22%. What a commitment this has been. I'm going to check on the new blogger today. Wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm like you---I puttered in the "NEW" for 4-5 hours, and really couldn't figure out much of anything other than everything is changed, difficult, in a different place (totally unrelated to where it was) and I hated what the blog looked like. I will probably hang on until the last thread of old Blogger shreds or shrivels. Fun read, and I so commiserate...ugh!
ReplyDeleteIt does not seem to have happened to me yet, but when I read that they were going to change it all in July my heart sank into my boots.
ReplyDeleteYour experiences do not encourage me. If I can keep to the tried and tested old system I will. At my age and in my state of health life is too short to cut through the new tangle and I shall simply give up blogging. A pity, since I have enjoyed it since 2006 - when the blogging world was much more "alive".
Yes, I saw their warning weeks ago and the same infuriating toothgrinding eyewatering mess happened to my blog. Their stupid new format completely wrecked my page and no editing tools were given to put it back to normal, So I wrote them a stern rap-on-knuckles message and said I did not want their new design (there is an option to opt out but you have to search for that link). Whether or not my choice was register I don't yet know. We'll see on the day the new system begins. Please please, everyone: let them know you do not want their new design and prefer to opt out. They are asking for feedbackL DO IT!
ReplyDeleterobin/Sandi/Avus/Natalie: I have rather more cheering news and hope to show this in a forthcoming post. At the moment I'm short of time. More soon.
ReplyDeleteI also managed to take back my original format but am worried that Blogger/Google management might ignore my opt-out choice.
ReplyDelete